Mississippi Democrat wins primary, set to become the state’s first openly gay lawmaker

By MICHAEL GOLDBERG
Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi will have its first-ever openly gay state legislator after a House candidate won his Democratic primary election runoff Tuesday. Fabian Nelson, a 38-year-old realtor from Byram, prevailed over Roshunda Harris-Allen, an education professor at Tougaloo College and alderwoman in Byram. The race to represent the south Jackson House District was decided in a runoff after neither Nelson nor Allen received a majority vote in the Aug. 8 primary. A local pastor finished a distant third and did not advance to the runoff. Nelson’s victory comes on the heels of a historic wave of restrictions passed by Republican-controlled legislatures targeting the rights of transgender people.